Placebo
by Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
Summary: Just what happened for Hunk to suddenly stop throwing up in his cockpit?


Not long after Hunk got his lion, Allura approached him and asked if he would be alright piloting. He hadn't been sure and was half convinced that the Lion had made a mistake. Not that he'd wanted her to make a mistake, or anything, but still.

Then the Altean princess had told him about the medicine.

"Wait, you mean, it's Altean Dramamine?" he asked suspiciously as he examined the liquid in the tube.

She blinked at him. "What is...Dramamine?"

"Oh, it's something that we have on Earth that stops motion sickness. I...kind of ran out a week or so before everything went down." He put a hand up to rub the back of his head nervously.

"Oh," she commented with a nod and looked at the bottle in her hand. "Then, yes. It's an Altean version of Dramamine. It should help with the sickness."

Honestly, Hunk had never been so relieved in his life. "I'll need a dose of this before every mission," he stated firmly and then took her hand in his, clasping it as he looked at her with stars in his eyes. He barely noticed how uncomfortable she felt as she stepped back from him just a little.

"You are, indeed, a hero, Princess," he said as sincerely as he could.

"Er, yes," she replied, extracting her hand from his. He didn't seem to mind at all because she left the bottle with him and he examined the pale green liquid inside with fascination.

"What's it made of?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to say, and then thought better of it. "Just some medicinal herbs and a few other ingredients. Human and Altean systems seem to be similar enough that this should work just fine. Take one swig before you fly, no more," she warned sternly.

He straightened into a salute. "Yes, Ma'am!"

"Good," she said with a nod. "Keep it in or near your lion and even in emergencies, you should be able to take a dose."

The stars came back. "Absolutely, Princess!"

"Oh, and make sure to tell me before you run out and I'll get you more," she said as she hurried away.

"You're amazing, Princess!" Hunk called after her. She kept the grin plastered on her face before she turned the corner, after which she took a deep breath. Clearly, getting to know these strange creatures called 'Humans' would take some time.

xxx

Not a galactic quintek* later, Hunk practically ran up to Allura and threw his arms around her. "Thank you so much!" he gushed.

Surprised, Allura could only blink for several seconds. No one ever did that with her...

Humans just got stranger and stranger.

"For what reason are you thanking me?" she finally managed to ask.

"Your medicine for motion sickness works wonders. I don't know what you have in it, but thank you! I feel like I can be part of the team now!"

With that he gave her one last squeeze and then went waltzing off. Allura just blinked after him for several seconds before she smiled softly.

"You're welcome."

xxx

The first time Hunk approached her for a refill was when this particular development started to get a little tricky. She looked for more, only to realize that she'd given Hunk the main supply. So, naturally, she asked Coran's help to make more and gave him a list of what she needed.

"Um, Princess, I have some bad news," he said slowly as he looked the list over.

Her smile faded. "What?" she asked nervously.

"Some of these ingredients...well, I've looked into them and...I don't think they exist anymore."

"What?" she asked again, this time more forcefully.

"Well, think about it, Princess, it has been 10,000 *years. Some species would have been hunted to extinction, others would have evolved, it's not exactly unheard of. We'll just have to find the new things out there to replace what we don't have."

And there was her Coran, as exuberant as ever.

She felt her eye twitch. "But we don't have that long," she said. "We need something to give to Hunk soon."

"Oh, this is for him?"

"Yes," she said, nodding once firmly.

Coran rubbed his chin. "Why don't you give him a placebo instead, then?"

"A what?"

He grinned. "It's an Earth term I learned when I asked Pidge for some Earth things to study. Apparently humans have this amazing gift of self-deception. Hunk could potentially teach himself-or his body-to react a certain way so long as he believes he's taking the correct steps for a given result."

She couldn't help but stare at him, aghast. "You mean lie to him?"

"Of course not," he said. "You just...omit certain truths."

"That's still a lie, Coran," she insisted angrily.

He deflated a bit before straightening right back up. "Well, it's either that or you tell him that we don't have anymore and have him go back to being sick all the time in his cockpit. Who knows the kind of confidence issues that would give him? I mean, after all, they are humans and tend to be very prone to—"

"Alright," she interrupted after a moment, then sighed and put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "I'll think about it."

His smile warmed up somehow. "I know it's hard, Princess, but you're doing a wonderful job leading the Paladins."

She shook her head. "I wonder sometimes, if I have to resort to things like this."

"That's what being a leader is about, making hard decisions for the team."

She deflated even more. "I know. Thank you, Coran.

xxx

Two quintaks later, she gave Hunk a bottle full of green liquid.

"It might taste different because it's fresh," she told him. "And it might have a slightly different effect."

"Right," he said with a grin and took the bottle. "It's something that gets better with age, I guess. That's why it did so well before, huh?"

"Something like that."

"Well, I'm sure it will still work. Thank you so much, Princess." He walked away like he was on cloud nine.

xxx

To say Allura was shocked that the only time Hunk threw up in his cockpit after that was when he got ejected from the wormhole would be a bit of an understatement. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop...after all, the only thing she'd given him was one of her favorite Altean herbal teas; delicious, but not enough to combat the kind of G-force motion sickness caused by piloting in space.

He kept asking for refills, though, so she kept giving it to him, wondering if she should tell him but deciding against it every time.

Humans were, indeed, a strange species.

xxx

AN: Thanks to Riha for the beta! This totally wouldn't even BE without her. :D

*Galactic quintek - eh, a galactic standard day. Approximately 20 Vargas which are about an EARTH hour.


End file.
